Irrawaddy River

Dear Tom, The Myanmar cyclone disaster is horrific. What could account for such a catastrophe? -- Steve Bartik Dear Steve, The disaster in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is staggering. The official death toll, now at more than 20,000, could climb to 100,000 as a worst-case possibility, said Shari Villarosa, the U.S. charge d'affaires in Yangon. On the evening of May 2, Cyclone Nargis moved from west to east along Myanmar's southern coast. It brought sustained winds of 125 m.p.h.

* Quake shallow but initial reports suggest damage light * Six people reported dead; no official death toll * Half-built bridge collapses on Irrawaddy River, workers missing By Aung Hla Tun YANGON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - An earthquake struck central Myanmar on Sunday near its second-biggest city, Mandalay, killing at least six people, with the death toll likely to rise as part of an unfinished bridge fell into the Irrawaddy River and several...

* Quake shallow but initial reports suggest damage light * Six people reported dead; no official death toll * Half-built bridge collapses on Irrawaddy River, workers missing By Aung Hla Tun YANGON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - An earthquake struck central Myanmar on Sunday near its second-biggest city, Mandalay, killing at least six people, with the death toll likely to rise as part of an unfinished bridge fell into the Irrawaddy River and several...

By Andrew R.C. Marshall and Jason Szep YANGON, May 25 (Reuters) - Five days of street protests over chronic power shortages present Myanmar's reformist government with a headache and an opportunity. Police forcibly dispersed protesters in the central Myanmar town of Pyi on Thursday, a heavy-handed response reminiscent of the previous military junta that could fuel grievances among an impoverished and long-neglected people. But state television also...

The Myanmar regime is frustrating international efforts to help victims of Cyclone Nargis because it has a much more sinister intent: the eviction or eradication of the non-Myanmar ethnic population from the Irrawaddy River delta region. The government sees its people as its enemy. There is a long record to back this up. In the mountainous region of Eastern Myanmar, more than 3,000 villages have been burned or mined and tens of thousands of internally displaced persons are on the run on any given day, according...

After Cyclone Nargis ripped across Myanmar, killing tens of thousands of people and leaving more than two million in desperate need of food, water and shelter, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon placed an urgent call to General Than Shwe, leader of Myanmar's military junta, to discuss coordinating aid efforts. But the general was not taking calls. Ban kept trying, but two weeks later, he had still not gotten through. Such is the paranoia and callousness of the military regime that has kept this...

U Maung Saw and his family are in a race against the rain. Cyclone Nargis pounded their house as flat as the mud where the broken pieces now lie. A 5-foot wave, driven by a storm surge that rolled 20 miles upriver from the Andaman Sea, crashed onto his doorstep, washing away almost everything the family of seven owned. The flooding and torrential rain May 4 also ruined a fifth of the unmilled rice they had stockpiled since harvesting the paddy in the Irrawaddy River delta in late March.

The Myanmar regime is frustrating international efforts to help victims of Cyclone Nargis because it has a much more sinister intent: the eviction or eradication of the non-Myanmar ethnic population from the Irrawaddy River delta region. The government sees its people as its enemy. There is a long record to back this up. In the mountainous region of Eastern Myanmar, more than 3,000 villages have been burned or mined and tens of thousands of internally displaced persons are on the run on any given day, according...

Frustration mounted Wednesday as humanitarian groups waited for Myanmar's government to grant visas and allow more relief flights into the country, seen as essential to easing the plight of as many as 1 million people left homeless by last weekend's cyclone. By day's end, as gasoline lines grew and darkness enveloped a battered Yangon, Myanmar's most populous city, a trickle of aid was starting to flow. Television footage showed Myanmar soldiers unloading the first foreign aid plane allowed into...

There is nothing shocking about the actions of Myanmar's government. Anyone paying attention during the last 46 years of military rule there could have easily predicted that the malignant regime would again fail its people during a major natural disaster. What is truly shocking is what the rest of us are doing. Now, in the second week after Cyclone Nargis swept ashore, wiping away perhaps 100,000 people, more than a million more Burmese face the imminent risk of hunger, disease and death.

By Andrew R.C. Marshall and Jason Szep YANGON, May 25 (Reuters) - Five days of street protests over chronic power shortages present Myanmar's reformist government with a headache and an opportunity. Police forcibly dispersed protesters in the central Myanmar town of Pyi on Thursday, a heavy-handed response reminiscent of the previous military junta that could fuel grievances among an impoverished and long-neglected people. But state television also...

U Maung Saw and his family are in a race against the rain. Cyclone Nargis pounded their house as flat as the mud where the broken pieces now lie. A 5-foot wave, driven by a storm surge that rolled 20 miles upriver from the Andaman Sea, crashed onto his doorstep, washing away almost everything the family of seven owned. The flooding and torrential rain May 4 also ruined a fifth of the unmilled rice they had stockpiled since harvesting the paddy in the Irrawaddy River delta in late March.

After Cyclone Nargis ripped across Myanmar, killing tens of thousands of people and leaving more than two million in desperate need of food, water and shelter, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon placed an urgent call to General Than Shwe, leader of Myanmar's military junta, to discuss coordinating aid efforts. But the general was not taking calls. Ban kept trying, but two weeks later, he had still not gotten through. Such is the paranoia and callousness of the military regime that has kept this...

Dear Tom, The Myanmar cyclone disaster is horrific. What could account for such a catastrophe? -- Steve Bartik Dear Steve, The disaster in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is staggering. The official death toll, now at more than 20,000, could climb to 100,000 as a worst-case possibility, said Shari Villarosa, the U.S. charge d'affaires in Yangon. On the evening of May 2, Cyclone Nargis moved from west to east along Myanmar's southern coast. It brought sustained winds of 125 m.p.h.

There is nothing shocking about the actions of Myanmar's government. Anyone paying attention during the last 46 years of military rule there could have easily predicted that the malignant regime would again fail its people during a major natural disaster. What is truly shocking is what the rest of us are doing. Now, in the second week after Cyclone Nargis swept ashore, wiping away perhaps 100,000 people, more than a million more Burmese face the imminent risk of hunger, disease and death.

Frustration mounted Wednesday as humanitarian groups waited for Myanmar's government to grant visas and allow more relief flights into the country, seen as essential to easing the plight of as many as 1 million people left homeless by last weekend's cyclone. By day's end, as gasoline lines grew and darkness enveloped a battered Yangon, Myanmar's most populous city, a trickle of aid was starting to flow. Television footage showed Myanmar soldiers unloading the first foreign aid plane allowed into...